Indian ecopreneurs deisgned E-Bike Doesn’t Stop for Anyone or Anything

Imagine being in the middle of the road and the battery of your
electric bike giving way. Clearly, panic sets in as you try to push your
vehicle to the side of the road and the thought of pushing it all the
way to your house fills you with dread. However, if you are riding on
the Limitless electric bike, instead of pushing the vehicle, you simply
start pedalling and continue to navigate swiftly amidst the traffic.

Isn’t that the coolest thing you have heard today? The brand new
electric bikes that can also be used as regular bicycles developed by
the Indian brand Limitless can certainly make heads turn.

The brains behind this cool electric bike are ‘ecopreneurs’ Rahul and
Raja Gayam. The brothers inherited entrepreneurship from their father
and being aware citizens and environment enthusiasts, decided to combine
their passion for the environment with their expertise in making
vehicles.The simple yet powerful idea for the electric bike (which can also be
used as a bicycle) came to the Gayam brothers while acknowledging a
looming problem for electric vehicles in India.

“See, for the vehicles that run on diesel, petrol and
CNG, you have petrol pumps, and gas stations everywhere. However, there
is no network of recharge stations for the electric vehicles. The lack
of such options to recharge your vehicle acts as a big hindrance for the
e-vehicles. While we were pondering upon the problem, we came up with
the idea of manufacturing an e-bike that can be pedalled in case the
battery drains out,” tells Raja.

The journey, however, hasn’t been easy. Raja and Rahul completed
their education and decided to dive into the automobile manufacturing
business. They had always wanted to make electric vehicles, however the
cost of R&D for developing efficient electric vehicles was too high.
Therefore, the duo started manufacturing auto rikshaws in petrol,
diesel and CNG variants at their firm Gayam Motor Works (GMW) in 2010.
The profits that they earned from exporting these rikshaws abroad went
into the R&D for creating energy efficient electric vehicles.

“The Lithium ion battery that goes into these rickshaws is similar to
what goes into our mobile phones. These make the Smart Auto almost as
powerful as the diesel rickshaws that run on the roads today. Unlike
rickshaws with lead-acid batteries, the Smart Auto gives a maximum speed
of 55 kmph and can run 100-110 km on a single charge. Since the
lithium-ion batteries are much more efficient and need to be imported,
the cost of production is high for our vehicles. However, we have tried
to cut costs wherever possible to deliver an affordable vehicle for the
masses,” says Sri Harsha Bavirisetty, Chief Operating Officer at GMW.

The company is now involved in making electric autos for its Business
to Business (B2B) clients. The startup recently partnered with online
grocery retailer BigBasket to pilot electric autos in Visakhapatnam and
Vijayawada.

“We offer both passenger and cargo variants of electric
autos with a load capacity of 450 kg and maximum speed of 55 kmph,”
informs Sri Harsha.

The company’s comparatively new product is Limitless electric bike, which was launched in the latter half of 2016.

Gayam brothers with the electric auto

The Limitless bikes have garnered much attention right from the
beginning. Gayam Motor Works’ very first customer for the electric bikes
is Uber. Uber has been using the limitless electric bikes for its food
delivery unit UberEATS in Singapore, Hong Kong and San Francisco. The
company has also delivered over 100 bikes to the government of Andhra
Pradesh for sanitary supervisors in the city of Vizag. The company is
also running pilots with delivery companies like Swiggy, Food Panda,
Gati and Big Basket.

“There are two versions of electric bikes that run 30 km
and 60 km respectively for a full charge of two-and-a-half hours. The
bikes come with different levels of pedal assistances to give you a
push. Once you start pedalling, the motor kicks in and supplies about
80% of the energy. And if you don’t want to pedal, there is a throttle
next to the right handle, which can take you from 0-25 kmph in five
seconds,” explains Sri Harsha.

Although the company is mainly working in a B2B (Business to
Business) model, it has recently started taking individual orders on its
website. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the Limitless electric bike
is priced between Rs 28,000 to Rs 45,000.

“Once purchased, the rider spends about Rs 4 per 60 km
with practically zero maintenance costs, which is what makes it unique.
It’s environment-friendly as well as light on your pocket,” concludes
Sri Harsha.